Four Iraqi Migrants Apprehended in Florida Maritime Smuggling Incident

MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA - JUNE 10: An aerial drone view as beachgoers take advantage of the o
File Photo: Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images
Bob Price

Miami Sector Border Patrol officials report the apprehension of four Iraqi nationals during a “suspected maritime smuggling event.”

Miami Sector Chief Patrol Agent Walter Slosar tweeted a report that his agents, along with other law enforcement partners, responded to a maritime smuggling incident near Miami Beach on Friday morning.

During the processing of the migrants, the agents identified four as citizens of Iraq.

The migrants arrived during a boat landing at Miami Beach near the W South Beach luxury hotel, Local10.com reported. The landing took place near the Miami Beach Boardwalk.

Federal law enforcement authorities took custody of the four Iraqi nationals and will conduct an investigation into the human smuggling incident.

No additional information is currently available regarding the Iraqi migrants.

Human smuggling boat landings continue to take place along the Florida Coast, as Breitbart Texas reported.

Earlier this week, Chief Slosar reported the apprehension of two groups of Cuban migrants after their homemade boats made their way across the Florida Straits. The first group landed on a remote island located in the Dry Tortugas National Park.

A few days earlier, a small boat with 26 Cuban migrants, including six juveniles, landed on an uninhabited island at Key West.

These 46 migrants are in addition to the 5,210 migrants apprehended by Miami Sector Border Patrol agents during the first six months of Fiscal Year 23 (which began on October 1, 2022). This year’s total already exceeded the total of the last two fiscal years combined when agents apprehended 5,040 migrants.

During the past 12 months, Miami Sector agents apprehended 7,771 migrants according to the CBP Nationwide Encounters Report.

These apprehensions do not include the thousands of mostly Cuban and Haitian migrants interdicted at sea by U.S. Coast Guard crews.

Coast Guard officials report the interdiction at sea of 6,449 Cuban and 4,230 Haitian migrants since October 1, 2022.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.

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